Hello World! We are up and rolling

To read this in Bengali, click here

We are in 2018, people of all age are now aware of the Internet world and are getting used to the technology day by day. In 2013, a 13-year-old boy made a Facebook page, it was just another experiment for him. The admins took the page seriously, uploaded images, important information, notifications and with time the page emerged as a daily routine of around 25,000 people.

The Facebook page we are talking about is ‘MySilchar’. Two major insights came out from our experience of handling the Facebook page, one: people like specialised content and two: they love to interact.

Well, the first insight is actually an interesting one. Yes, we have Jugashanka, Samayik Prasanga and other daily broadsheets which deliver headlines door-to-door, but still we get about one lakh people reading our posts. Why? Well, here is the reason, the newspapers are like a globe where your homeland is often lost, whereas MySilchar only spoke about your own homeland and you liked it. So we thought why not make a world, which is all about our homeland and then take it to the globe. That idea got us to this day as we launch www.barakbulletin.com.

The World Wide Web gives us the opportunity to enter the global map and guess what, it does not ask for an NRC or an AADHAR card either. While WWW opens the door it is actually the content that lets you fly and gives you the recognition. So, here we are, we assure you that Barakbulletin.com will only feature content which is directly related to you, the people of Barak Valley, we will not be another brick in the wall and therefore we will not be a copy-paste medium. We will bring you quality feature stories, which will move you, exclusive interviews which will force you to re-think, news breaks which will inform you and opinion pieces from people you love and admire. In another way, Barak Bulletin will be that slate which reads your own story in your own language.

Now let’s talk about the second insight, ‘interaction’. Over the last six years, your comments, shares, likes, reactions told us loud and clear that today’s Barak Valley is aspirational and opinionated. Gone are the days when we were satisfied with mediocrity, today we chase excellence. We don’t want Barak Valley to be known for its tea and rice and pineapple, yes they are important but it does not end there. Today Barak Valley aspires to be renowned for its soft powers like photography, fine arts, literature, excellence in sports, dance, music… The reality shows is a great example of this, after Debojit Saha in 2005 we had a number of representatives from Barak Valley taking the center stage, be it Saptaparna from Hailakandi or the recent revolution Bir Radha Sherpa. On our Facebook page we got a number of photographs clicked by people of Barak Valley, which left us stunned. At times we did research to find if the shot was actually clicked by the person claiming it. So, Barakbulletin.com apart from bringing you quality content will promote the soft power of Barak Valley and take it to the world.

We will do some stories, which will be controversial in nature, but it is important to bring those stories to you. We promise you, we will be fearless, unbiased and premium, and we will be that friend of yours which will always make you proud to be a Barak Valley resident. We will soon have a full-fledged team of journalists a newsroom and a professional setup. We will cover Cachar, Hailakandi and Karimganj to start with and then expand deeper, but if there is a story related to Barak Valley lying in Mumbai, Madurai or America or London we will bring that to you too.

But, all that will mean nothing without, without you, we are like bones without flesh. We will need you to tell us good, we will need you to tell us bad, we will need you to be with us in highs and lows, in smiles and sorrows, we will need you because barakbulletin.com is you and her and him and all of us. Stay connected with us at every step, tell us a story you would like us to do, a person you would like us to interview and we promise we will never disappoint you. You can write to us through our website, you can e-mail us at editorial@barakbulletin.com and very soon we will share our number with you so that you can chat with us through WhatsApp or SMS.

Barakbulletin.com is for us, for our soft power to turn to a superpower, let us together let the world know the greatness of our valley, the power of our skills. Let the journey begin…